No. 732

Puree of Turnips

Puree de Navets

Peel, wash and mince two pounds of turnips; parboil them for ten minutes in boiling salted water, drain, and fry them colorless in four ounces of butter; moisten with a quart of white stock (No. 422), seasoning with salt and sugar, and let cook slowly until the moistening be entirely reduced, when they are done pound them, adding two pints of thick bechamel (No. 409); pass through a sieve, and warm the puree again, incorporating into it, two ounces of fine butter just before serving.

← No. 731 Puree of Truffles and Puree of Truffles with Garnishings No. 733 Chicken or Game Quenelles Molded in a Spoon →

For the Modern Kitchen

A classic French vegetable purée built as a garnish rather than a side dish, and proportioned accordingly. The whole technique hinges on driving off water before the béchamel goes in.

Cook it dryThe instruction to cook "until the moistening be entirely reduced" is the one that matters. Turnips hold a great deal of water, and any left behind gives a loose, weeping purée that will not hold a shape on the plate. Keep the pan uncovered at a bare simmer and let the stock go entirely.
"Fry them colorless"This means sweat, not brown. Medium-low heat, butter foaming but not coloring; browned turnip turns the finished purée grey-beige and gives it a scorched edge.
Scale the béchamelTwo pints of thick béchamel to two pounds of turnips gives a sauce-heavy purée in the nineteenth-century manner, meant to be piped or spooned as a bed. For a modern side dish, a cup or less is plenty; add it gradually and stop when the texture pleases you.
White stockThe recipe sends you to Ranhofer's No. 422 for his white stock. A light chicken stock with no added salt is a serviceable substitute; if using commercial stock, hold back the salt until the reduction is finished, since it concentrates sharply.
The sugar is not optionalA pinch balances the mustard-oil bitterness in turnips, which intensifies as the liquid reduces. Add it early with the salt rather than correcting at the end.
Pounding and sievingA food processor replaces the mortar, but do not skip the sieve — turnip fiber survives the blade and a tamis or fine chinois is what makes the purée smooth. Push it through with a plastic scraper or the back of a ladle.
The finishing butterThe two ounces of butter go in off the direct heat, whisked in a piece at a time. Boiling after the butter is added will split the emulsion and dull the gloss.
YieldThe recipe gives no yield. Two pounds of turnips with a quart of stock and two pints of béchamel makes a large quantity, intended for garnish portions rather than plated servings; cut back the béchamel and the batch will go further as a plain vegetable purée.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, where he served as chef across two stints spanning some three decades, and its structure follows French professional practice: purées like this one live in the garnishings chapter because they were components, not dishes — a bed for a cutlet, a border piped around a platter, a filling for tartlets. The method here is the standard purée de navets of the period, parboiled, sweated in butter, braised dry in white stock, then bound with béchamel and enriched at the last moment. Turnips carried none of the humble associations in this context that they had in domestic cooking; bound with cream sauce and sieved to silk, they seem to have been treated as a proper accompaniment to game and to roast duck, and Ranhofer places them beside a purée of truffles without apology.